Part 30 (1/2)

And still no one guessed that she had any but the feeble beastmagery of small seed-gathering birds, or that Oath, with his tiny waggling arms, was really the son of two great mages-both of them far more powerful and skilled than the seamage Prayard who thought he was the father.

To Wad, these changes were all to the good. He understood well enough that with Bexoi in the King's chamber every night, their trysts would be few-but now and then she used a gate he had made for her and joined him in one of the many secret rooms he knew of in Na.s.sa.s.sa. For months they only talked; Wad asked for no intimacy with her body, and she offered none.

And then, during one such encounter, when the boy that she called Oath and Wad called Trick was ten months old, she took him to her body pa.s.sionately. When he was spent, lying beside her on the pile of their clothing on the floor, she told him she was pregnant again.

”So soon?” said Wad. ”I thought that when you nursed a baby-”

”Who knows what happened when you healed me there on Oath's birthbed? My body was made ready for Prayard's seed. I waited until I was pregnant with his body before I slept with you again. This new baby will truly be his. That is a kind of faithfulness to my husband, isn't it?”

Wad heard those words and smiled, but his smile was a lie. The Queen had long wanted Prayard's son. By having Wad's, she had finally won the attention, then the affection of her husband, and now had his baby in her womb. What did that mean for the future of little Prince Oath?

Now, when he fed his prisoners, Wad began to see that they had not been the only threats to Trick's inheritance-or, indeed, to his survival. Bexoi was a strong woman, he knew. She would do whatever she thought was necessary to achieve her ends. She had confided in Wad more than once that her nephew Frostinch was the greatest danger to Iceway, and that sooner or later it would come to war between them.

But Wad had finally come to see that she meant this in the fullest sense-that Frostinch would be Jarl of Gray, and that Bexoi would be, one way or another, the ruler of Iceway when that war came. Wad had given her a baby who was named the heir; Prayard had given her the position of the mother of the heir. Now another baby was coming, so Oath was no longer so essential to her plans.

Wad had seen enough now of the machinations of the court to know that Bexoi would never be content until she ruled as regent for a beloved baby king. The question was: Which baby would it be? Bexoi would have to choose between them.

Wad had only one p.a.w.n in this game.

Or three, if you added in the two elder sons of King Prayard, who brought with them a rival regent, Anonoei. This woman of Iceway had once had many friends and perhaps still had them, if she were to emerge from her hiding place.

Now Wad understood why he had been so reluctant to kill his prisoners when Bexoi insisted. He had known from the start that he could not trust Bexoi any more than Prayard could. He simply hadn't known that he knew it.

Wad, as their warden, began to give the prisoners food from the King's own table, pilfered gatewise from the tables and sent to Anonoei and Eluik and Enopp in fine bowls and basins. For Anonoei there was wine as well as water, and, for the boys, sweets as well as bread and cheese and meat.

He did not expect them to learn to love the jailer that they never saw. In part he gave this better food to them, and washed up the pans of their s.h.i.+t and p.i.s.s, as penance for his crime of keeping innocent children as solitary prisoners in a terrifying place. But there was something else that he only now and then allowed himself to know-they were the answer to a question: Who will stand against Queen Bexoi, should there come a time when it were better if she fell? It was a question only he was asking, and so for now he kept the answer to himself.

17.

BIRTHDAY P PRESENT.

In the middle of the summer of 2010, Leslie and Marion sat Danny down in the living room with so much ceremony that Danny thought they were going to announce that they were fed up with his commuting from Yellow Springs to Naples and he was going to have to move out. Which he definitely did not want to do, since he delighted in Veevee, but only in small doses, while Leslie and Marion were the closest things to parents he had ever known.

”As you know,” said Marion, ”your sixteenth birthday is approaching.”

”It's July thirtieth,” said Danny. ”My birthday is September fourteenth. It's approaching in the sense that Christmas is approaching.”

”Some preparation is needed,” said Leslie.

”Preparation for what?” asked Danny.

”Your driver's license,” said Marion.

”We have to enroll you in driver's education right now,” said Leslie.

”Because we've decided that your birthday present will be a car,” said Marion.

”You're a very responsible young man,” said Leslie. ”You work hard at everything you do. You're careful and skillful. We think you'll be an excellent driver.”

”I think my word was 'adequate,'” corrected Marion.

”It won't be a new new car,” said Leslie. ”Insurance is expensive for sixteen-year-old young men.” car,” said Leslie. ”Insurance is expensive for sixteen-year-old young men.”

”Again, my word would be 'boys,'” said Marion.

Danny was touched. He could imagine such a scene playing out in any normal drowther home. It made him feel like... an American. An Ohioan. A human being.

”You are so wonderful,” said Danny. ”I wish I had grown up in your house.”

”You still are growing up,” said Marion. ”And in our house.”

”Mostly,” said Leslie.

”But the thing I can't figure out is... why would I want a car?”

They looked at him, nonplussed.

”I even go grocery shopping by gate,” said Danny.

”We didn't appreciate the shopping cart in the kitchen,” said Marion.

”Now, it was just the once,” said Leslie. ”And he took it back himself.”

”I always pay for everything,” said Danny. ”I haven't stolen anything since I've lived here with you.”

”What about in Florida?” asked Leslie. ”I suppose the rules are different there.”

”I made gates for Veevee to her favorite stores and malls, yes,” said Danny, ”but always to a spot outside, so she still has to pay. More to the point, I I always pay. Even to go into the movies. I want to live by drowther rules. I'm doing it better than a lot of drowthers.” always pay. Even to go into the movies. I want to live by drowther rules. I'm doing it better than a lot of drowthers.”

”By drowther rules,” said Marion, ”you need a car.”

Danny put his hands in shrugging position. ”Why? I already have better transportation than the President.”

”In a word,” said Marion, ”dating.”

”You can't very well gate a girl to the movies, Danny,” said Leslie, ”and very few of them will be impressed if they always have to walk.”

”Or maybe you expect the girl to drive,” said Marion. ”They are not impressed by this.”

”I think you're overlooking the biggest point here,” said Danny. ”I don't need a car car so I can date. I need a so I can date. I need a girl. girl.”

Marion and Leslie looked at each other, and Marion coughed. ”Uh, Danny, in, uh, drowther culture, in this this country, anyway, teenagers of opposite s.e.x are generally expected to find each other without adult interference.” country, anyway, teenagers of opposite s.e.x are generally expected to find each other without adult interference.”

”And you know where they do that?” asked Danny. ”At high school.”

Again Marion and Leslie looked at each other, then back at Danny. ”Are you saying you want to go to high school?” asked Marion.